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Michael Henderson did a thousand weekly radio talks on American radio stations when he and Erica lived in Oregon for 21 years. He is posting from time to time a selection of them on this website as they may still be of contemporary interest and some tell stories related to Initiatives of Change's history and people.

The heir to the British throne had been invited to be the keynote speaker at Harvard University’s 350th anniversary party. He was surprised that Massachusetts which wasn’t ‘too certain about the supposed benefits of royalty’ should even have invited someone like him, someone as one American paper put it ‘as appallingly undemocratic as the Prince of Wales.’

As the slight figure entered the hall the band struck up the ‘Dream the impossible dream’ tune from ‘the Man of La Mancha’. It was a moving moment as a retiring housewife who had taken night classes returned to her alma mater, Boston University, to receive an honorary doctorate as President Aquino of the Philippines.

Let us hope that the festivities around the Statue of Liberty, itself a gift to symbolize Franco-American friendship, will have reminded us that France is not only the oldest but the strongest ally of the United States.